The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Blazers Face Difficult Field At Mercedes Benz Collegiate
2/19/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Feb. 19, 2005
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - With one tournament down in the spring season, UAB's men's golfers prepare for the 2005 Mercedes Benz Collegiate hosted by North Florida. The tournament will take place Sunday through Tuesday at Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. The 54-hole event layout is a par-72, 6,985-yard course which is sure to challenge Alan Kaufman's club.
"We'll face some good teams and some talented golfers," Kaufman said of the field, which includes eight top-25 teams according to the latest Golfweek/Sagarin ratings. "We have traditionally scheduled tough to prepare ourselves for the postseason. You can't beat the best if you don't play the best."
Playing the best is precisely what UAB will do in this tournament. No. 9 UCLA and No. 12 Duke highlight a field that features 17 squads, all ranked No. 74 or above. No. 14 Augusta State, No. 19 Georgia State, No. 20 Florida, No. 23 Tennessee, No. 24 Kentucky and No. 25 South Carolina round out the top-25 teams in the field. UAB, incidentally, is the lowest-rated team in the field at No. 74.
UAB is coming off a tie for fifth at the 2005 SunTrust Gator Invitational Feb. 5-6. The Blazers were tied with the host Gators after two rounds but faltered in the third of the 54-hole event.
Senior Ryan Thomas shot a one-over-par 71 in the third round to finish tied for fifth. He finished the event at two-over for the tournament - three shots behind individual medalist Jonas Blixt of Florida State.
Kaufman's lineup will include Thomas and fellow senior Chris Cousins, who looks to overcome a third round 82 in the Gator Invitational two weeks ago and return to his All-America candidate form. Sophomore Garrett Osborn, who has played in all but one of UAB's tournaments this year, and freshmen Marco Zirov and Kaylor Timmons will round out the lineup. Zirov made his collegiate debut on Feb. 5-6 at the Gator Invitational and fired rounds of 75-73-74. Timmons burst onto the scene in the first tournament of the fall, finishing tied for fifth at the Mason Rudolph Intercollegiate with rounds of 73-69-69.
Kaufman's club will get two week's rest between tournaments after the weekend. UAB returns to action at the Conrad Rehling Spring Invitational hosted by the University of Alabama the weekend of March 11-13.
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